The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 135

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Maxed-Out Player’s 100th Return – Episode 135
135. Tower of Trials Floor 99
[You have entered Tower of Trials Floor 99.]
[Upon facing the final trial, you will receive a reward obtainable nowhere else.]
[Upon successful clearance of Floor 99 ▶ ????]
Ryu Min scarcely glanced at the messages before advancing forward.
A vast arena stretched before me—a circular coliseum spanning 150 meters in diameter.
As I descended the staircase and walked toward the center, another message materialized.
[Scanning the information of the Floor 99 entrant.]
[Player: Black Scythe (Lv89 Reaper)]
[Please wait. Currently scanning and copying the player’s information.]
…
…
[Scan and copy complete. The final trial will commence in 10 seconds.]
Exactly ten seconds elapsed.
A figure materialized with a resonant shimmer—
A man clad in black armor appeared before me, scythe in hand.
[Face the enemy before you.]
The enemy before me.
It was myself.
‘A battle against my own self. So this is the final trial of Floor 99.’
Already knowing what awaited, I showed no hesitation and raised my scythe.
My opponent—a being bearing Black Scythe’s likeness—advanced with Death’s Side in hand.
The strongest players ranked first across all districts collided at a single point.
Clang—! Clang!
The scythes met in mid-air, ringing out with crystalline clarity.
Scrape—! Scrape—!
Sometimes the blades grated against one another.
Screeeech—
When the scythes locked in a test of strength, an earsplitting metallic shriek jolted the senses awake.
After exchanging dozens of blows in rapid succession, both combatants retreated.
‘This is no mere illusion. It’s a genuine clone—an exact duplicate of myself.’
Strength, reflexes, speed—there was nothing about this being that differed from me.
A perfect version of myself.
A mirror image so identical it was almost uncanny.
My eyes sharpened with tension.
It was only natural—the strongest player stood before me.
Then my opponent took a step back and assumed a stance to swing the scythe.
Whiiiing—
‘Moonlight Island?’
Ryu Min immediately jumped.
But.
One second later, Moonlight Island flew toward the direction he had jumped, as if anticipated.
An inescapable angle.
Yet Ryu Min had already positioned himself mid-air.
‘Moonlight Island.’
Two blades infused with moonlight collided.
Crash—crash—crash—crash—crash—boom!
As the colossal energies clashed, a chain of explosions erupted.
Ryu Min was sent flying by the shockwave.
The distance between them widened, and dust filled the gap.
The clone, rushing to kill Ryu Min, suddenly hesitated.
Ryu Min’s presence, which had been detectable, vanished.
Thanks to the Rune of Stealth, perfect invisibility was possible—there was no way to find him.
Then.
Whoosh—!
Ryu Min’s scythe, bursting through the dust, cleaved down at the clone’s head.
The ambush succeeded, but Ryu Min could not smile.
The corpse dissolved and vanished.
‘A doppelgänger…!’
In a brief moment, the clone using doppelgänger appeared behind Ryu Min.
A scythe laden with killing intent aimed for his waist.
Slice—!
Ryu Min’s waist was severed in two, but this too was a doppelgänger.
Ryu Min, now positioned behind the clone, swung his scythe.
But the clone, as if anticipating this, dodged by a hair’s breadth and countered with his scythe.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang!
After exchanging three rapid blows in a brief moment, the clone vanished.
Shimmer—
Ryu Min too cast invisibility.
Both figures disappeared.
A profound silence consumed the surroundings.
‘Indeed, this is no trivial matter.’
Fighting against himself, the skill level was extraordinary.
The Rune of Doppelgänger, invisibility, Moonlight Island—
The application ability was quite formidable.
Already seeing several moves ahead, he blocked every attack.
‘It can’t be helped. I have the Rune of Future Sight.’
I move by observing seven seconds into the future, so wouldn’t the clone do the same?
‘That’s why I jumped when using Moonlight Island. If the distance widens from the shockwave, I can escape the range of the Future Sight Rune.’
Ryu Min hadn’t leaped into the air without reason.
He already knew that when Moonlight Islands collided, the wind pressure would send him flying.
By creating distance and obscuring his vision with dust, the opponent could no longer read his movements through the rune of foresight.
‘But this strategy is failing too. I can’t match his intellect and reflexes.’
Titles, runes, stats—and not just those, but equipped items, inventory items, combat sense—everything was identical.
It was precisely like fighting a mirror.
It was only natural that Ryu Min was struggling.
‘But I can’t retreat like this.’
The reward for Floor 99 was on the line—how could he possibly give up?
Ryu Min’s scythe moved toward where his opponent should be.
* * *
Boom-boom-boom-boom-crash!
Crash-boom-boom-boom-crash!
Explosions powerful enough to shake the very earth erupted in succession.
Flashes of light erupted from all directions, illuminating the darkness.
Death’s Night, Crimson Moon, and Moonlight Island—the combo unfolded against his opponent.
‘Even a graze from this would mean death?’
Ryu Min, who had been blocking Moonlight Island with Moonlight Island, smirked at his opponent.
“Five times. You’ve used them all, haven’t you?”
“….”
“So have I.”
The creature was his clone, but it didn’t speak.
It showed no emotion on its face.
It simply charged forward with a mechanical expression, wielding its scythe in silence.
Clang! Clang!
Because they both knew each other’s movements seven seconds ahead, their offense and defense flowed in perfect synchronization.
With stats matching perfectly, he couldn’t overwhelm it through sheer force.
‘An hour has passed, and neither of us has a scratch.’
He could tell through the Mark of Death, which displayed the opponent’s health bar.
The creature showed no fatigue, no wounds.
The same was true for Ryu Min.
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
As both activated invisibility simultaneously, silence descended once more.
With invisibility active, he couldn’t determine its location.
He couldn’t afford to lower his guard, but this was the only respite granted to him.
A moment to devise new strategies.
‘Sigh… how do I attack myself now?’
He’d already tried nearly every attack pattern, yet none worked.
It was inevitable—the opponent simply predicted everything through the rune of foresight.
Whenever my clone anticipated an unexpected dust cloud, it slipped away like a loach, as if it had already devised a countermeasure.
Thus, surprise attacks proved ineffective and instead offered opportunities for counterattacks.
Of course, I didn’t passively accept this either, drawing my next card in response.
‘At this rate, we’re making no progress.’
We possessed identical stats, identical skill, identical abilities.
How could I possibly defeat such a mirror image of myself?
Having conquered Tower of Trials Floor 99 before, I already knew the answer.
‘If I can’t win, I endure. There’s nothing else.’
This battle could not continue indefinitely.
Though invisible, a time limit was imposed.
‘A full 24 hours, no less.’
The true strategy for Floor 99 was to withstand 24 hours against oneself.
The system had only instructed me to face the enemy before me—it never said to kill.
‘In other words, Floor 99’s primary objective is to test mental fortitude while battling oneself.’
Defeating oneself was impossible.
Despite clearing it dozens of times, I had never once overcome my own clone.
‘Of course, winning would be ideal, but based on my experience, endurance is the limit.’
If I couldn’t win, I would endure.
But losing was unacceptable.
The moment I faltered mentally, showing even the slightest opening, my clone would kill me.
Then I would be eliminated without mercy.
The Floor 99 reward would be lost forever.
‘Losing the means to oppose Angel? That absolutely cannot happen.’
This was why I gritted my teeth and persevered.
Of course, it wasn’t difficult yet.
‘Only an hour has passed so far.’
Though no timer was visible, subjectively, 23 hours remained.
A long, grueling marathon of sorts.
While the invisible timer might prove taxing, I actually considered it fortunate.
‘If I could see the time, my resolve might waver. Better that I can’t see it.’
Until now, I had monitored the time, but from this moment forward, I would ignore it.
I would endure the remaining 23 hours like a marathon runner, exchanging blows with my clone.
If I simply persisted through it all,
‘The time will expire and I’ll clear Floor 99.’
Steeling my resolve once more, I raised my scythe.
For the sake of Floor 99’s ultimate reward alone.
* * *
Clang—clang—!
Crash, crash, crash, crash, boom—!
Clang, clang, clang! Clang, clang!
Ryu Min endured, using the clash of blades as his music.
He persisted, holding on until the Floor 99 completion message appeared.
I had no idea how much time had passed.
I hadn’t kept count since the first hour.
In a state of perfect emptiness, I faced only the enemy before me.
‘They say your greatest enemy is yourself, don’t they?’
It wasn’t a metaphor—it was literal truth.
My greatest opponent right now was that maniac.
A lunatic wielding a scythe, wearing a face identical to my own as if reflected in a mirror.
‘Ah, what’s the point of cursing? I’m just spitting in my own face. Not that it matters. The madness is real, after all.’
That lunatic’s mind held only one thought: I must die.
He swung his scythe wildly, each attack following a different pattern.
‘If I myself appeared as an enemy, I suppose this is what it would look like.’
With identical stats at level 89, exhaustion simply wouldn’t come.
There was never more than five minutes of rest.
‘It’s truly like fighting a mirror.’
I was tired.
Was there any reason to continue this fight?
I no longer knew.
I just wanted to let it all go.
‘It’s simple. I just need to allow his attack to land once, and it’s over.’
Giving up was easy.
Even a basic attack from Black Scythe was lethal.
‘My Luck stat is high, so I’d get a critical hit. Or maybe the Dark Armor effect could block it.’
With a 67% chance to deflect attacks, if I was lucky, I might survive one hit.
‘So why not just take one hit? I might not die, right?’
And if I did die?
‘I’d just return to reality, that’s all.’
Should I let everything go and end this exhausting battle?
Whenever such complacent thoughts arose, Ryu Min recalled the memories he had endured.
People dying.
People I failed to protect.
Even my Younger Brother, the only one I had to leave behind in reality.
Flash—!
The enemy’s Moonlight Island descended before my eyes.
Ryu Min, already instinctively prepared, countered with the same skill.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-crash—!
With the explosion, my mind snapped clear.
‘I must protect. I cannot bear to watch the world fall to ruin again.’
If I died here, the Floor 99 reward would slip away.
Without a means to counter the angel, there is no hope even if I clear Round 20.
‘I lost my focus for a moment.’
Like cold water splashed across my face, my mind snapped back into clarity.
Clang, clang, clang—!
I blocked the scythe descending to split my skull and engaged in a test of pure strength.
Like a taut game of tug-of-war, neither of us gave ground in this battle of raw power.
My body lurched forward.
Shimmer—
The clone I had been grappling with moments before vanished like a mirage.
[You have endured the 24-hour time limit.]
[You have cleared Tower of Trials Floor 99.]
[Confirmed: You are the first player to clear Tower of Trials Floor 99.]
[You have set an unprecedented record in the history of the Tower of Trials!]
[Your Achievement will be recorded in the Akashic Record.]
I had finally conquered Floor 99, the goal I had yearned for so desperately.
At last, I could release the tension that had gripped me.
Thump—
Drained of all strength, I collapsed to the floor.
“Huff… huff…”
As I gasped for breath so heavily the messages blurred from view.
[The Tower of Trials marvels at your extraordinary mental fortitude.]
[Your stamina and mental fortitude have been completely restored.]
[You have obtained the title ‘Supreme Being’.]
As my stamina and mental fortitude recovered, the messages came into focus.
‘Finally. I have it. A title to stand against the angel.’
I opened the information window for the title.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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